We’re only a week out from September, a month that promises a veritable tidal wave of AAA goodness. Kicking off the Fall 2026 rush is Witcher-inspired The Blood of Dawnwalker, followed closely by Capcom’s franchise revival Onimusha: Way of the Sword. The madness continues later on with PlayStation’s Wolverine, Remedy’s Control Resonant and Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave on Switch 2. That’s not even mentioning Konami’s return to Silent Hill, a new entry called Townfall.
So yes, if you’re into AAA games, you’ll be more than well-served in September, but if you’re suffering from a bit of AAA fatigue, may I recommend a little gem called Replaced. This 2.5D cyberpunk tale, which released back in April of this year, really surprised me. It took me around 15 hours to complete, and what I initially thought was going to be a simple side-scroller with interesting visuals ended up reminding me of the unexpected magic of indie games.
First of all, Replaced is gorgeous. Sad Cat Studios’ debut title populates its dystopian, neon-drenched, alternate 1980s world with beautifully animated 2D sprites, and these flat characters play strikingly against detailed, PS1-esque 3D environments. Late-’90s Squaresoft PlayStation titles immediately come to mind, such as Xenogears and Einhänder, as well as other moody, cinematic 2D classics like Oddworld: Abe’s Odyssey and Heart of Darkness.
What’s cool about this particular art style is that while the basic action almost strictly occurs within two dimensions, the camera can (at any moment) pick up, rotate, pan or shift in whatever direction it sees fit. This gives Replaced a more in-depth feel than your standard side-scroller, and it’s what I loved most about PS1 games like Oddworld. You never know where the camera will take you next, and it lends Replaced’s intricately crafted diorama levels a sense of spontaneous adventure.
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The cinematography here is top-notch, and this is highlighted by the default black bars that border the gameplay (you can turn them off, though). More often than not, Replaced feels like a lost ‘80s movie, replete with windy skyscrapers, sun-drenched fields, radical video arcades and retro apartments filled with glass-blocked walls, chunky answering machines and ancient computers you probably used in elementary school—if you’re as old as me, that is. There’s even audio cassettes to collect, and later on in the game, a throwback music store to browse. Helping out with the aesthetic is a synth-heavy soundtrack that just screams Blade Runner.
The story follows a man named Warren who’s inhabited by a mysterious artificial intelligence, and following a fun chase/escape scene at the beginning of the game, the narrative spiderwebs out from there. It’s got all kinds of futuristic horrors to learn about, including an evil corporation, organ harvesting, political devastation, poverty, class wars and of course, the increasingly tense role of AI in society. Replaced doesn’t exactly come out and make any blatant ‘AI good’ or ‘AI bad’ statements, but some of the writing is pretty on-the-nose, and I think you know where the developers stand by the end of the game.
That said, the writing can be rather uneven at times, and I’m not sure whether it’s a translation issue or what. For example, strange mis-writings pop up now and again, like ‘tear you from limb to limb,’ as well as a crowded public space being described at one point as ‘rammed like a cattle market.’ These sentences do make a certain kind of sense, but they also sort of…don’t? They’re awkward, to say the least.
Even some of Warren’s found documents are oddly written. I can recall one specific miner’s diary explicitly using the word ‘cool’ and the entry was supposedly composed in 1959. I took less umbrage with the word itself, as I’m sure a few people in the ’50s were probably saying it, but more with the very modern, almost Zoomer context of the usage that stumbled. The word ‘chilling’ was also used here, and toward the end of the game, a letter ended with the slang ‘laters!’ It just felt out of place.
That said, the story itself ended up landing for me, eliciting some good emotion while leading up to the finale, and I appreciated the few twists and turns that were peppered in. I liked the general commentary on humanity and AI, and what it means to be human. However, I do think Replaced felt a tad too long, and I think it would have had more impact as an 8-10 hour game.
I would describe the combat in Replaced as frustrating but fun. By the developers’ own admission, it’s heavily inspired by the Arkham games, so think heavy impact with lots of opportunity to parry and counter. I enjoyed these scuffles quite a bit, but they’re hampered by lack of distinction between the foreground and background assets, something that also extends to the game’s exploration platforming sections, unfortunately.
During many of the fights, there are enemies on the sidelines watching the commotion, and it can be all too easy to confuse these spectators with the guys you’re actually battling. Button inputs for countering can sometimes feel delayed, too, leading to occasional responsiveness agitation. Still, the combat is fast-paced, engaging and it keeps you on your toes. If there ends up being a Replaced 2, I hope the devs can tune this portion of the game further, because it’s so close to hitting the mark.
As their first game out of the gate, I think Sad Cat Studios has something special here. Despite some bumpy writing and somewhat unpolished combat, they totally nailed the atmosphere in Replaced, and I genuinely stayed interested all the way through. It’s a stunning piece of art, so if you want something interesting to play before we’re all buried in AAA absurdity come September, give Replaced a go. And you don’t have to take my word for it; go ask ChatGPT for more impressions and then cower as it goes rogue and does a bunch of, uh, evil stuff.
Disclosure: Review codes was provided for coverage purposes.
